Many fruits, including tomatoes, have a brief shelf life and period of keeping quality after reaching the ripe stage of development. Consequently, they are often harvested at an unripe stage and held in cool conditions during transport and prior to marketing. At that point, attempts are made to induce ripening, but ripening is often incomplete and the resultant quality is less than that of naturally-ripened fruit. Furthermore, even well-ripened fruits may rapidly become subject to over-softening, bruising, and other injury, and are more susceptible to invasion by pathogens.
Many attempts have been made to develop treatments which decrease the spoilage of fruits and vegetables, and among these attempts are methods which use amines to achieve their purpose.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,460,710 describes a method and fungicidal composition for controlling organisms which cause decay of citrus fruits. The method involves contacting the fruits with 2-aminopyridine or its salts.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 2,578,752 discloses a method for the control of destructive diseases of citrus fruits. The method involves contacting the fruits with an aqueous solution of salicyl anilide solubilized by the addition thereto of a synthetic organic amine base. Among the organic amine bases found suitable as a solubilizer for the salicyl anilide are amino methyl propanol, monoethanolamine, diethanolamine, triethanolamine, morpholine, aminobutanol, and di-ethylamine.
As another method, U.S. Pat. No. 2,604,409 describes treating fresh fruits and vegetables with a solution of an amide of a thioacid of a particular fatty acid series. The treatment allegedly prevents or reduces decay caused by certain types of rot organisms to which many food commodities are commonly subject while being shipped to marketing centers and ultimately distributed to consumers.
While the above-described methods may be useful for their particular purpose, i.e., preventing or controlling diseases and/or decay caused by certain organisms, there still remains room for substantial improvement in methods of extending the shelf life and enhancing the keeping quality of fruits.